Thursday, April 30, 2015
Writing Task
Grade Level: 10
Subject: English
Topic: Summarizing
Directions: Read the article below.
After reading, Make an outline of the article and write a summary based on the
outline you have written. Do the tasks on a separate sheet of paper. Use the guide
questions provided in making your outline and summary.
Why Readers, Scientifically, Are The Best People To
Fall In Love With
LAUREN MARTIN • JUL 9,
2014 - 1:59PM
Ever finished a book? I mean, truly
finished one? Cover to cover. Closed the spine with that slow awakening that
comes with reentering consciousness? You take a breath, deep from the bottom of
your lungs and sit there. Book in both hands, your head staring down at the
cover, back page or wall in front of you. You’re grateful, thoughtful, pensive.
You feel like a piece of you was just gained and lost. You’ve just experienced
something deep, something intimate. (Maybe, erotic?) You just had an intense
and somewhat transient metamorphosis. Like falling in love with a stranger you
will never see again, you ache with the yearning and sadness of an ended
affair, but at the same time, feel satisfied. Full from the experience, the
connection, the richness that comes after digesting another soul. You feel fed,
if only for a little while.
This type of reading, according to TIME magazine’s
Annie Murphy Paul, is called “deep reading,” a practice that is soon to be
extinct now that people are skimming more and reading less. Readers, like
voicemail leavers and card writers, are now a dying breed, their numbers
decreasing with every GIF list and online tabloid. The worst part about this
looming extinction is that readers are proven to be nicer and smarter than the
average human, and maybe the only people worth falling in love with on this
shallow hell on earth.
According to both 2006 and 2009 studies
published by Raymond Mar, a psychologist at York University in Canada, and
Keith Oatley, a professor of cognitive psychology at the University of Toronto,
those who read fiction are capable of the most empathy and “theory of mind,”
which is the ability to hold opinions, beliefs and interests apart from their
own.
They can entertain other ideas,
without rejecting them and still retain their own. While this is supposed to be
an innate trait in all humans, it requires varying levels of social experiences
to bring into fruition and probably the reason your last partner was such a
narcissist.
Did you ever see your ex with a
book? Did you ever talk about books? If you didn’t, maybe you should think
about changing your type.
It’s no surprise that readers are
better people. Having experienced someone else’s life through abstract eyes,
they’ve learned what it’s like to leave their bodies and see the world through
other frames of reference. They have access to hundreds of souls, and the
collected wisdom of all them. They have seen things you’ll never understand and
have experienced deaths of people you’ll never know. They’ve learned what it’s
like to be a woman, and a man. They know what it’s like to watch someone
suffer. They are wise beyond their years.
Another 2010 study by Mar
reinforces this idea with results that prove the more stories children have
read to them, the keener their “theory of mind.” So while everyone thinks their
kids are the best, the ones who read have the edge as they truly are the wiser,
more adaptable and understanding children. Because reading is something that
molds you and adds to your character. Each triumph, lesson and pivotal moment
of the protagonist becomes your own.
Every ache, pain and harsh truth
becomes yours to bear. You’ve traveled with authors and experienced the pain,
sorrow and anguish they suffered while writing through it. You’ve lived a
thousand lives and come back to learn from each of them.
If you’re still looking for someone
to complete you, to fill the void of your singly-healed heart, look for the
breed that’s dying out. You will find them in coffee shops, parks and subways.
You will see them with backpacks,
shoulder bags and suitcases. They will be inquisitive and soulful, and you will
know by the first few minutes of talking to them.
They Won’t Talk To You… They’ll
Speak To You
They will write you letters and
texts in verse. They are verbose, but not in the obnoxious way. They do not
merely answer questions and give statements, but counter with deep thoughts and
profound theories. They will enrapture you with their knowledge of words and
ideas.
According to the study, “What
Reading Does For The Mind” by Anne E. Cunningham of the University of
California, Berkeley, reading provides a vocabulary lesson that children could
never attain by schooling.
According to Cunningham, “the bulk
of vocabulary growth during a child’s lifetime occurs indirectly through
language exposure rather than through direct teaching.”
Do yourself a favor and date
someone who really knows how to use their tongue.
They Don’t Just Get You… They
Understand You
You should only fall in love with
someone who can see your soul. It should be someone who has reached inside you
and holds those innermost parts of you no one could find before. It should be
someone who doesn’t just know you, but wholly and completely understands you.
According to Psychologist
David Comer Kidd, at the New School for Social Research, “What great writers do
is to turn you into the writer. In literary fiction, the incompleteness of the
characters turns your mind to trying to understand the minds of others.”
This is proved over and over again,
the more people take to reading. Their ability to connect with characters they
haven’t met makes their understanding of the people around them much easier. They
have the capacity for empathy. They may not always agree with you, but they
will try to see things from your point of view.
They’re Not Just Smart… They’re
Wise
Being overly smart is obnoxious,
being wise is a turn on. There’s something irresistible about someone you can
learn from. The need for banter and witty conversation is more imperative than
you may believe, and falling in love with a reader will enhance not just the
conversation, but the level of it.
According to Cunningham, readers
are more intelligent, due to their increased vocabulary and memory skills,
along with their ability to spot patterns. They have higher cognitive functions
than the average non-reader and can communicate more thoroughly and
effectively. Finding someone who reads is like dating a thousand souls. It’s
gaining the experience they’ve gained from everything they’ve ever read and the
wisdom that comes with those experiences. It’s like dating a professor, a
romantic and an explorer.
If you date someone who reads, then
you, too, will live a thousand different lives.
Guide Questions:
1. What is deep reading?
2. What characteristics do readers
have that make them better in relationships?
3. What can vocabulary contribute
to a successful relationship?
4. How can readers understand
people easily?
5. Why is being wise important in a
relationship?
Rubrics
|
Criteria
|
7
– 10
Very
Satisfactory
|
4
-6
Satisfactory
|
1-
3
Unsatisfactory
|
Score
|
|
Organization
|
The outline and
summary follows a very logical arrangement;
All the important
parts of the article are present
|
The outline and
summary follows a somewhat logical
arrangement;
Some important parts
of the article are present
|
The outline and
summary does not follows a logical arrangement;
A lot of
important parts of the article are missing
|
|
|
Clarity
|
The outline and
summary are easily understood;
All of the assertions
of the author were clearly mirrored in the summary;
The summary did
not alter the original stand of the article
|
The outline and
summary are somewhat understood;
Some of the assertions
of the author were clearly mirrored in the summary;
The summary slightly
altered the original stand of the article
|
The outline and
summary cannot be easily understood;
No assertions of
the author were clearly mirrored in the summary;
The summary completely
altered the original stand of the article
|
|
|
Grammar and
Mechanics
|
There are no
grammatical errors;
Correct punctuation
and capitalization are used
|
There are two to
three grammatical errors;
There are some punctuation
and capitalization inconsistencies
|
There are more
than five grammatical errors;
There are a lot punctuation
and capitalization inconsistencies
|
|
|
Total
|
|
|||
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